Improving the lives of children and young people: case studies from Europe
There were 81 special education kindergartens in 2004, representing 6.8% of special education structures for all levels of education (40), but a new law on special education introduced in 2008 makes little provision for required measures at preschool level and none at all for early prevention, which is a very important stage for some children with disabilities. Research in early childhood education Education research, particularly in the field of early childhood education, has been slow to emerge. According to some experts (16,41,42), a variety of events and conditions is responsible for this late development, including: • bureaucratic division of early education and child care; • policy-makers’ lack of interest in preschool care and education; • relatively recently established studies in education and teacher training at university level; • lack of graduate studies in education since they were officially endorsed in the 1990s; • nonexistence of psychology departments until the early 1990s; • a weak research tradition that adversely affects the development and use of education research; • very weak links between education research and policy; and • long-term underfunding of education, social sciences and research in general. Centres for creative activities for children Relatively recent ministerial acts have aimed to reconcile work and family life for parents with preschool and school-aged children (5−12 years). The acts provide for “afterschool education services” through creative activities such as theatrical play, music, dance and painting to promote children’s psychosocial development. There are now 240 such centres nationwide with approximately 20 000 children, run by municipalities with approval from departments of social welfare of the local prefectural authority. They are financed partly by national sources but principally through EU funds.
The regulations define a ratio of 2 specialist members of teaching staff (such as kindergarten or primary school teachers or teachers of physical education, music, art and crafts) per 25 children. Subscription criteria allow priority to children from disadvantaged families. Most services are free of charge, but some involve a small fee. There are also 34 facilities for disabled individuals from 7 to 25 years, but it is highly probable that they will have to close due to severe underfunding.
Conclusion As part of the EU, Greece has followed standards and has implemented measures to upgrade the profile of social care, such as: • increasing parental benefits and leave, although there are considerable differences between private and public sectors and levels remain very low compared to other European states; • transferring nurseries/crèches from the central state to local authorities between 1997 and 2003; • increasing the number of nurseries/crèches through European Support Framework programmes, although there is still insufficient coverage of publicly funded early
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